Many areas of the brain are involved in planning, organizing, problem solving, emotional self-regulation and other “higher cognitive functions” that closely relate to an individual's cognitive-emotive profile. More specifically, these include mechanisms to plan actions toward a goal, use information flexibly, recognize the consequences of behavior, and make inferences based on limited information. These mechanisms impact the management of sub-goal structures, such as the activations and switching between mental representations and procedures, assembling cognitive operations, multi-tasking, attentional and mnemonic control, the imposition of biases on the selection of task relevant information, evaluatory processes detecting potential for error and response conflict, and suppression of automatic and inappropriate behaviors (i.e., impulse control). Furthermore, cortical circuits connect extensively and work intimately with lower-level limbic circuits, (including anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala and hippocampus) to add emotional valence to these behaviors. Overall, these circuits are believed to mediate functions that determine an individual's cognitive-emotive profile.
Primary deficits occasioned by organic or traumatic events can cause functional disruption to cognitive-emotive circuits in areas of the brain that are then reflected in loss of control, initiation, cessation, control of action, cognitive estimation, cognitive flexibility, deficits in the response to novelty, goal-directed behaviors and the ability to sequence. Many of these deficits are reflected in the symptoms of specific malfunctions such as chronic fatigue, pain, tinnitus, epilepsy, depression, sleep disorders, and addiction, among others.
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/376,676, of inventorship common to the present application, which is incorporated hereto as though set forth in full, it is shown that brain bioelectric signals can provide a window into the complex dynamics of brain activity related to sensation, motor, and cognitive-emotive behavior. As further discussed in application Ser. No. 10/376,676, various bioelectrical and more particularly the electroencephalogram (EEG) signal can be analyzed to define a cognitive-emotive profile of an individual. Because of recent improvements in biological sensor technology, signal processing methodology, pattern recognition techniques, and high-speed computational algorithms, the development and use of techniques to obtain and process biological signals in real time have improved considerably, thus facilitating the analysis of such bioelectrical data.
However, current technologies do not work by controlling levels of external therapy, lack rapid bi-directional control, and are quite insensitive to the user's cognitive-emotive profile. While they primarily deal with reducing or eliminating illness, they do not focus on improving individual wellness. Additionally, existing technologies are psychologically demanding and require long periods of time to effect the desired therapeutic changes.
What is needed is a means and a method to induce a temporary state-of-mind using low-level, pulsed magnetic fields to effect persistent changes in the cognitive-emotive profile of the individual. Such a system should rapidly recognize the functional significance of the mental and brain function. Moreover, such a system could be used, though not limited, to enhance cognition, enhance wellness, improve quality of medical care, reduce the time to therapeutic effectiveness, improve the quantity and quality of interrogations, and diminish the intervention time necessary to ameliorate specific disorders such as chronic fatigue, pain, tinnitus, depression, sleep disorders, and addiction.